Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-08-14
THE BIG GEYSERS.
cu.xaxs CONTINUALLY GOING ON IN
TIE YELLOWSTONE PARK.
Tia DEVILS slide and Its Legend % Told
by the Indians The Giant
Gcyser.

BY the Indians Inc oians
Geyser.
ALiyipQstone (Mont.) letter to the
PHILADELPHIA Times says: This wide
awake. live western town is situated in
the yery mouth Of the first canyon
of the Yellowstone. This tremendous
rent or gorge is the gateway to the
National Park, and throughit are rush
ing at this writing hundreds OF tourists
and sipht.seers, bent upon witnessing
for themselves the wonders OF the most
wonderful region on natures globe
the Yellowstone National Park.
A few years ago your correspondent
threaded the three canyons OF tue lei
lovstone on ponyback. and found 1t
rather risky business for his neck to
crawl along some OF the steep walls
overhanging the abyss below: Three
years have made a wonderful chang,e
in all save nature. ! found it tough
work then to wind forever upwards,
mile after mile, to the base OF Electric
Peak. sometimes on foot and sometimes
on ponyback but now dual engines
puff end snort and screech along the
canyon, and instead of occupying six
DAYS as heretofore to make the journey,
six hours will suffice with the aid OF
steam.
THE DEVILS SLIDE.
Just before crossing the line to enter
the Yellowstone Park most curious
and strange freak of nature is encoun-
tered. which / consider equal, if not
superior, to any of the marvels within
the boundary Of the park proper. The
Devils Slide" is most astonishing
roadway, running from the top of the
Cinnabar mountains to the yawning
rocks which overhsng the chasm OF the
Yellowstone below. When discovered
some years ago it was supposed to
be genuine and true cinnabar,
from which supposition the noun
tains were named by Hayden, the ex-
plorer. That gentleman verify thought
he had discovered something more valu-
able than the fountain OF youth. Gin
nabar is an ore Of mercury, from which
nearly all the mercury of commerce is
obtained. 1t is a rare mineral, the
principal zines being in Spain, at AL
MAIDEN (about 1890 years oldD small
ones in Hungary, Peru, China, and ia
pan, and very small deposit in Cali
fornia. Hayden thought he struck
bonanza. Cinnabar has an adaman-
tine, almost metallic lustre, diversi-
fed with streaks of bright carmine and
scarlet. Now the Devils Slide looks as
much like cinnabar as any thing can look
without being the article itself. From
the top of the mountain to its base the
distinguishing carmine color and bright
scarlet streaks extend, which led the
scientist into the excusable error of
calling it cinnabar. The slide is per-
haps half mile in length, 100 feet
wide, and looks, except as to color and
steCpness, for all the world like our
highly.civilized toboggan.slides, only
tie momentum Of pace would permit OF
no checking of the speed, and instead
Of coming to halt sometime or other,
the bold voyageur would find himself
dashipg and plunging headlong into
the seething waters of the Yellowstone
roaring through the canyon hundreds
Of feet below.
The Bannack Indians, who formerly
claimed this region as their favorite
hunting grounds, tell of legend they
have which accounts for the Devils
Slide. The gist Of the story is this {:
The slide was built by the evil one
himself, who always visited the place
during violent and terrible storms for
the purpose of frolic and sport. When
it thundered the evil one went plunging
down this awful incline, pitching into
the roaring Yellowstone at its base, and
then by some subterranean passage
within the earth mounted to the top
again and repeated his little diversion
until it ceased laundering. The light
ming was caused by friction with the
fiery colored roadbed in the devils
rapid descent.
One one side of the passage rise mas
sive basaltic pillars, more handsomely
carved and ornamented by nature than
man could ever accomplish, and these
mount in solid columns to a dizzy
height in the air, too stupenduous and
grand to be described. At the Nam
mouth Springs all is hustle and excite
ment at the present writing. The hotel
is swarming with visitors and more are
rushing in every hour. The springs them
selves look exactly the same as usual.
All through the long and cold winter
these remarkable developments of Their
NAL action have been sputtering and
bubbling necessarily, unmindful of
cold, winds, and the desolation that
surrounds them. What a mist of an
tiquity hangs over these marvellous
calcareous deposits Ages ago, before
Columbus was born, before the Old
World was even fairly known, these
mammoth springs were then in the
first stages of decay. There can be no
question but what the lower terraces,
dead, rotten, and almost crumbled into
dust, have been so for centuries. Far
up the mountain the geyser actions are
climbing, and possibly some time in
Ilc ulul lulult TIC WuOiS va iCii"SS
Mountain will be a bubbling, boiling
mass of hot-water springs like the 10
acres of the Mammoth are to-day.
| climbed the fourteen terraces over
which the springs are distributed, and
also penetrated into the woods and up
the sides of the mountain, where
tourists seldom venture. Here L ran
upon the beautiful orange geyser (rarely
seen by anybody and also number of
new sulphur vents or chimneys that
were putting out virgin sulphur and
spreading it in galore on the ground
roundabout.
YAyY NATURAL CHANGES.
It is certain that the great park has
net yet begun to be known or fully I'M
derstood. 1t is only within a year or
two that records have been kept, and
these begin to show most wonderful
and marvellous changes in some of the
phenomena. A tourist travelling over
any of the geyser basins will tell of the
wonders as he saw them. Succeeding
tourists will tell of visits to the same
place, but sometimes the stories will
differ widely. The reason for these
discrepancies is that the wonders
are seen at different dates. For in
stance: The Beehive, Giant, and other
geysers have been for some years prac-